MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- Milwaukee Bucks coach George Karl has to
be wondering why his team cannot do this more often.

Ray Allen and Sam Cassell fueled a dominant first-half
performance as the Bucks snapped back into shape with a 103-72
rout of the Cleveland Cavaliers, posting just their fourth win
in 16 games.

Burdened by his club's uninspired play over the last five weeks,
Karl has openly criticized the Bucks' lack of teamwork and
unwillingness to work hard on several occassions.

However, he did not have to wait long to see some effort this
afternoon. Milwaukee never was seriously challenged in moving
back within one-half game of Orlando for the final Eastern
Conference playoff spot.

"Sometimes we're good, sometimes we're bad," Karl said.
"Sometimes we pass, sometimes we don't. I think we'll continue
to play some good games, but you can't play 100 games without
some down times."

Cassell, who was 4-of-13 from the floor for eight points in
Friday's embarrassing 108-80 home loss to New Jersey, hit 4-of-5
shots in the opening quarter for 10 points, leading the Bucks to
a 27-19 lead.

Allen scored six points in each of the first two quarters as
Milwaukee opened a 50-28 halftime cushion. Cassell and Allen
finished with 18 points apiece.

Karl commended his team's 26-13 assist-to-turnover ratio.

"My optimism is in the way we passed," Karl said. "As a team we
need to trust the pass to keep getting better shots. It's going
be a race (for the playoffs). Detroit, Orlando, Boston, us --
whoever makes it, it's going to be a race and whoever makes it,
they're going to be a better team."

Tim Thomas kept up the intensity in the second half, scoring 16
of his 22 points after the break and displaying some fire in a
shoving match with Cleveland forward Danny Ferry.

"It showed how everyone took it on themselves to go out and get
a win," Thomas said. "The season is winding down now, we've let
of games slip away. Now is the time to go out and win."

For once, Karl got to watch the other team's lifelessness as
Cleveland offered very little resistance after intermission,
raising the ire of Cavaliers coach Randy Wittmann.

"I just thought we reverted back to individualism tonight,"
Wittman said. "Too many guys were worried about themselves. We
had 10 assists for the game. Time is running out, especially
with games like this."

Lamond Murray scored 16 points for the Cavaliers, who have lost
six of nine to fall five games behind the Magic for eighth place
in the East. Cleveland established season lows for points in a
quarter and half en route to their fifth straight loss in
Milwaukee.

Darvin Ham had 11 points and 11 rebounds for Milwaukee, which
shot 46 percent (39-of-85), held a commanding 49-33 advantage on
the boards and forced 20 turnovers.

"It was the first time we held a team under 10 points (in a
quarter)," Karl said. "Everyone's worried about the midseason
blues. We're not a bad team. We're a good team searching for
ourselves."

"They came out aggressively," Miller said. "They got a lot of
rebounds and second-chance points. We didn't shoot well from
the free-throw line or from the field."

Danny Manning and Ham made back-to-back layups to start the
second-quarter explosion and Allen and Thomas connected on
consecutive 3-pointers to spark a 14-0 run that gave the Bucks a
45-21 lead with 5:37 left in the half.

Thomas stuck a forearm under Ferry's throat with 1:28 remaining
in the third quarter, resulting in two free throws as the Cavs
finally got the deficit under 20 at 68-50. But Thomas came
right back with a layup on the ensuing trip and Milwaukee held a
72-52 lead entering the final period.

Ferry and Thomas locked up again early in the fourth quarter and
Ferry sank a technical free throw before Thomas sank two from
the line and hit two jumpers to make it 78-55 with 9:38 to play.